Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content material. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, photos, and quotes to which Dr. Greger could also be referring, watch the above video.
According to the largest examine of danger elements for dying in human historical past, a poor weight loss program causes extra deaths than something. Cigarettes solely kill about eight million individuals a 12 months, whereas humanity’s weight loss program kills tens of millions extra. What are the worst elements of our weight loss program? Processed meat? Twinkies? Soda? No, the 5 deadliest issues about our weight loss program are: insufficient fruit consumption—not sufficient fruit; not sufficient complete grains; not sufficient greens; an excessive amount of salt; and never sufficient nuts and seeds.
Nuts ought to come as no shock since interventional trials have proven that consuming nuts improves artery perform, and arterial ailments like coronary heart illness are amongst our main killers. But that’s not all nuts can do. They can also enhance blood sugar management, decrease ldl cholesterol, suppress irritation, cut back oxidative stress, and feed our pleasant intestine flora. All nuts or simply tree nuts?
What about peanuts? What about peanut butter? About 50 p.c of peanut consumption in the U.S. is thru peanut butter, however the affiliation between peanut butter consumption and mortality has not been totally evaluated. To get that granular we are able to name on the NIH-AARP examine, the largest potential well being and weight loss program examine in historical past that adopted greater than a half million individuals since the Nineteen Nineties.
And…nut consumption basically appeared to guard towards all-cause mortality, which means nut-eaters dwell, on common, longer lives, and particularly, are much less prone to die from most cancers, heart problems, respiratory illness, infectious causes (so, possibly they assist immunity as nicely), liver illness, and kidney illness. However, no such associations have been discovered for peanut butter. So, relating to dwelling longer, peanut butter doesn’t appear to depend. Why?
Well, we all know peanut butter shoppers tended to eat extra meat, smoke cigarettes, and have been much less prone to train, however the researchers managed for all that: crimson meat, chicken, tobacco use, train, greens, fruits, and complete grains; so, it’s not like the peanut butter eaters have been simply consuming extra white bread sandwiches or one thing. The researchers didn’t management for sugar although, so it’s doable they might have been consuming extra sugary jelly.
It is also the processing that goes into making peanut butter—the added trans fats, oil, salt, and sugar—however common nuts are additionally usually eaten with added oil, sugar, and salt. Could it simply be the peanuts themselves? Technically, they aren’t nuts, so possibly they simply don’t have the identical advantages.
But no, a meta-analysis of all such research discovered the identical nut-like advantages for complete peanuts, however simply not peanut butter. Well, one factor lacking from even no salt, oil-free, sugar-free nut and seed butters is unbroken mobile construction. As I famous in How Not to Diet, regardless of how nicely we chew complete or chopped nuts, some of the vitamins stay trapped in tiny particles that ship a bounty of prebiotic goodness to our pleasant intestine flora. That makes me marvel if there would have been any distinction between chunky and clean peanut butter.
In the meantime, there may be compelling proof to advocate the use of nuts (ideally uncooked nuts over salted or toasted) and complete or chopped nuts reasonably than nut butters, not less than 3 times every week to be able to maximize your probabilities of dwelling longer and more healthy lives.
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